St Cyril of Alexandria Commentary on John (Fourth Part)

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Page 128

This indeed we shall perceive Him doing in the words that soon follow; for He says to them: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. He hastens however, as God, to promise the disciple who desires so to do, that he shall follow Him earnestly, and be with Him in all reality, with none to check his zeal; saying: Whither I go thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow afterwards. And the saying is pregnant with a twofold signification, one part of which is very evident and obvious, while the other is rather more indistinct and wrapped in mystery. For He means to say that Peter could not possibly follow Him now in His passage to the world above and in His return to heaven, yet that he would follow Him hereafter; namely, when the honour and glory for which the saints are ever hoping is conferred upon them by Christ, when they come to the city in the heavens to reign with Him for ever. But the words also contain another meaning, the nature of which I will explain. The disciples had not yet been clothed with the power from on high, neither had they received the strength that was to invigorate them and mould to courage their human dispositions, I mean the gift of the Holy Ghost; and so they were not able to wrestle with death and engage in a conflict with terrors so hard to face. And surely on another ground, since it was fitting for Christ alone, and reserved specially for Him to be able to shatter the power of death, it was unlikely that others should appear engaged in this work before Him. For to be freed from the fear of death could surely mean nothing else than to despise death as being powerless at all to harm us. Wherefore, in our view at least, even the blessed prophets used to dread the approach of death when it had not yet been rendered powerless by the Resurrection of Christ. And it was from a right understanding of this that Paul said that the Word, Who was from God the Father and in God, laid hold of the seed of Abraham, that through the death of His holy Flesh, He might bring death to nought, and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For the saving Passion of Christ is the first means that ever brought release from death, and the Resurrection of Christ has become to the saints the beginning of their good courage in meeting it. As therefore our natural life had failed as yet to crush the power of death, and had not even destroyed the terror that it casts over our souls, the disciples were still somewhat feeble in the presence of dangers. Therefore the Lord graciously intimates that Peter should be crucified when the time had come, and thereby should follow the footsteps of His Master: and in the words: Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow afterwards, He obscurely implies that now his mind is not firmly enough prepared for so severe a trial. For if it is not the death of Peter to which Christ darkly alludes in these words, why is it that, although admittedly all the other holy apostles have before them the promise that they shall continually be with Christ and follow Him, at the time of the resurrection, when a spotless life is secured to them amid all the blessings for which they hope, nevertheless He here applies the force of His words individually to Peter alone? Nay, it is abundantly evident that in special reference to Peter He dimly shadows forth what will happen to him in after time. In illustration of this He has explained the matter more distinctly in another place, where He says: When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and others shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not. Now this He spake, adds the Evangelist, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God. For even though suffering for Christ's sake is a thing delightful for the saints, yet the danger is not wished for by them: but still it must be endured when of necessity it is brought upon them. Therefore also He bids us pray that we fall not into temptation.

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